


Kingdom of Magic

by schneefink



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Inheritance Trilogy - N. K. Jemisin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Gen, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 22:34:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17733929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schneefink/pseuds/schneefink
Summary: The Arameri have always been in Slytherin. Nobody knows what precisely their ambitions are.





	Kingdom of Magic

**Author's Note:**

> After thinking about a dozen times that Deka is such a Slytherin I had to go ahead and write it.

Hermione first noticed the Arameri siblings during their Sorting in her second year. She barely paid attention to the proceedings, too worried about where Harry and Ron might be, until she noticed that there was a hush in the hall, not as pronounced but not dissimilar to what had happened when Harry's name had been called. 

"Slytherin!" the Hat proclaimed almost instantly, and a composed dark-skinned boy in noble clothes stood up and walked over to the Slytherin table.

"Who's that?" Hermioned asked Parvati.

"Sh," Parvati hissed and raised her head to watch "Shahar Arameri," a haughty looking pale-skinned girl, be sorted into Slytherin as well, only moments after the Hat touched her head.

"The Arameri are one of the oldest wizarding families," she explained then. "They used to be really influential over a thousand years ago and spread out over many countries. They've steadily become less wealthy and influential since then, but they still have a lot of power. People say their family is cursed," she added in a whisper.

"Cursed?"

Parvati shrugged. "Anyway, their family's been in Slytherin for generations."

"So like the Malfoys then." 

"No," Neville said, "There were never any rumors about the Arameri being Death Eathers." He ducked his head when Hermione looked at him. "My Gran brought me to events they attended a few times. I think she was hoping I'd become friends with the twins, because Shahar is the Arameri heir. But it only took them about two minutes to decide I wasn't interesting." 

"There's lots of rumors about the Arameri," Lavender said eagerly. "Two years ago the boy was sent to a foster family and nobody knows why."

"Neville, did your Gran say anything?"

"She just told my uncle to stop talking about it."

"Maybe he did something," Lavender speculated.

"They're not sitting next to each other," Parvati said, looking over at the Slytherin table. "But Malfoy is already talking to the girl. Ugh."

"Of course he is," Hermione muttered. 

Then she was distracted by a Gryffindor first-year falling down on the way to the table.

 

The next time she heard the name Arameri was when people were gossiping about the Heir of Slytherin in the halls.

"It can't be the Arameri," a fourth-year student insisted, "their family is older than Hogwarts itself."

"A descendant of Slytherin could have married into the family, duh," his friend said. "Think about it. They're all Slytherins, they're rich, snobbish…"

"What does being rich and snobbish have to do with being Slytherin's descendant?" a third student asked. "All you need is a family relationship, right? It doesn't even have to be a Slytherin, or a pureblood."

"So what, the Heir of Slytherin is going to be a Muggleborn Gryffindor?" the first student asked mockingly.

The third student shrugged. "If a descendant of Salazar Slytherin was a squib…" Her friends stared at her. "Look, I'm just saying," she said defensively, "I don't think it's the Arameri. My sister shares some of her classes with them and she said they've never said anything bad about Muggleborns."

"Maybe they're just careful to keep their cover. The Chamber was opened the year they came to Hogwarts. Maybe their parents told them to."

"They're too smart for that. I heard they're getting top grades in every class." 

Then Hermione had to take a different turn to her next classroom and soon couldn't hear them anymore. She briefly considered their theory, but it was no more convincing than a half-dozen others she'd overheard in the past week, and unfortunately there were plenty of rich pureblood Slytherin families.

***

"Some people had really weird boggarts," Ginny said, after her first DADA class with Professor Lupin. "Steven Winters had a big floating cat. And Shahar Arameri had a man with black shadows all around him, which isn't that unusual, but she went all pale and refused to cast the spell."

"Oh?" Hermione asked. 

"Yeah, it was weird. She normally gets every spell right. And her brother too, he refused to even face the boggart."

"And Professor Lupin let them?"

"They both have this way of staring at you," Ginny said. "Like you really don't want to find out what will happen if you cross them because you wouldn't like it."

"And it works on teachers?" Hermione raised her eyebrows. Professor Lupin hadn't seemed the type to get scared easily, especially not by students.

"I think he thought it wasn't worth the effort. He stopped the lesson after that, so I didn't have to take a turn," and she looked so grateful about that that Hermione changed the topic.

***

Only a few weeks into the next year, Dekarta Arameri was put into the fourth year Arithmancy and Ancient Runes classes, and it only took half an hour to prove that he was better than any other student there. It would probably take a few months at most until he was put into the fifth year classes.

"He probably got private tutoring since he was six, how is that fair?" Hermione complained to Ron and Harry. "And probably during the holidays, too." 

"If not for private tutoring, how could anyone keep up with you?" Ron said. "It really wouldn't be fair to them."

"That's not the point!" 

The boys grinned. "So for once someone is better than you, you'll get used to it," Ron said with a shrug. "Look at it this way, you finally found someone who can keep up with you in classes."

Hermione tried. When they were assigned an Ancient Runes projects to work on in pairs she asked Dekarta if he wanted to work together, and he accepted.

"He's the worst," she moaned in the common room after their first study session together.

"Is he a jerk?" Harry asked.

"No, he's perfectly polite," she grumbled. 

"Then what's the problem?"

"He's smarter than I am. And he explains everything I don't understand."

"What's so bad about that?"

Hermione felt herself flush in embarrassment. "He makes me feel like a first year," she muttered. 

Mercifully, Ron wasn't paying attention, and Harry chose not to tease her about it.

Dekarta really wasn't that bad. He was annoyingly good at Runes and often skipped several steps, but he was always willing to answer her questions. He always praised her when she finally got it, which should feel condescending but instead made her blush. He had very pretty eyes, and a very nice smile, though he smiled rarely. 

She tried to get to know him better, but he evaded questions about himself and skillfully deflected any questions about his family. When they came across students wearing "Potter Stinks" badges and Hermione couldn't stop herself from ranting, Dekarta nodded politely and agreed with her that Harry hadn't put his name into the Goblet himself. He said he didn't have any theories about who it might have been or about the Tournament, but he did at least offer comments when Hermione wondered if there were any wearable wards she could create for Harry. 

In December Dekarta advanced another year in both classes, and Hermione barely saw him anymore. She briefly spotted both him and his sister at the Yule Ball, even though they weren't old enough to go on their own, but she didn't see who they were with. They were both wearing robes that even Hermione could see must have cost a fortune, looking every inch like wealthy young aristocrats. 

They were also wearing amulets with the symbols of the Three Gods. Hermione hadn't met anyone who still worshipped them in a long time: it was generally believed that the Three Gods and their children had left the world centuries ago. Every once in a while a new theory emerged about what kind of magical creatures or magicians the Three Gods had been and how many of the stories of them were pure fantasy, but there was never a consensus. Hermione was curious if Dekarta and Shahar actually considered them gods and prayed to them, but she didn't know the twins well enough to ask such a personal question.

Before the third task of the Triwizard Tournament Hermione approached Dekarta again to ask about the wearable wards and he pointed her toward a few options, but in the end she concluded that research into spells and curses Harry could use would be more productive. They didn't know what Harry would encounter, and they were running out of time to prepare him.

In the end it turned out that nobody could have prepared Harry for who he faced.

***

The summer before their fifth year in Hogwarts was full of tension and hushed reports and rumors that Hermione and the other children were not supposed to hear, but still did. They took turns in trying to eavesdrop on Order members.

"The Arameri have been attacked by Death Eaters," Fred reported after the latest meeting. "At least that's what they think. An alarm at the Arameri mansion went off, and when the Aurors arrived there were signs of a battle, but they were told that the attackers had been defeated and fled."

"They were told? Do the Aurors think the Arameri were lying?" Hermione asked immediately.

"Tonks said that she doesn't necessarily think they were lying, but she did think they were covering something up. A few days later, several suspected Death Eaters were reported missing."

"If the Arameri killed them, why didn't they just say so? It would have been self defense," Ginny said.

"Maybe they didn't want anyone to know how they died," Ron suggested. "Maybe they used Dark Magic."

"There's never been any hint that the Arameri use Dark Magic," George said. "And if Death Eaters attacked them, that's at least pretty definite proof that they're not working with them, even though they're Slytherin purebloods."

"Has the Order considered recruiting them?" Hermione asked.

Fred shook his head. "They didn't fight against You-Know-Who, either. Moody seemed pretty pissed about that, and that they're keeping so many secrets. I think he wishes he had a reason to investigate them."

"But if Death Eaters attacked them, maybe they have a reason to fight against You-Know-Who now. Do we know why they were attacked?"

"No, and the Arameri said they didn't know either." 

"Weird. Maybe you can ask them, Ginny. You're friendly with them, right?"

Ginny snorted. "Shahar is friendly with everybody who she thinks could one day be useful, and friends with nobody. She's already a typical pureblood politician. And Dekarta isn't much better. I have no idea why he's not in Ravenclaw, he's studying all the time."

That was true, and Dekarta was definitely smart enough to be put in Ravenclaw. Had the Hat put him into Slytherin because Dekarta really wanted to be there because of his family? Or was ambition even more important to Dekarta than knowledge? If it was, it might be a good idea to find out what his ambition was aimed toward. 

 

Hermione looked for the Arameri twins during the welcoming feast. They were sitting close together, and between them sat a boy Hermione couldn't remember ever seeing before. Nevertheless, he looked strangely familiar. She wasn't the only one who noticed him and others were staring at him and whispering, but the boy only smirked. For some reason Hermione felt herself shiver.

At the end of the Sorting, Dumbledore welcomed the new transfer student Sieh En.


End file.
